dmt1955 wrote:i am wondering if Aniello and Anibale are two distinct names or might one be a version of another (similar to Biase and Biaggio).

thanks for your thoughtsDonna

DonnaAs far as I can tell, these two names have different origins and are not variants of the same name.

Aniello seems to be a variant of Agnello, which is the word "lamb" and comes from a Greek word which means "messenger." There was actually an African bishop in Naples, Sant'Agnello in the 6th C. BC, who had fled there from Africa and founded a monastery there. His feast day is celebrated on Dec 14th.

I can only find Anibale with two 'n's." That name appears to derive from Latin-Hannibal. He was a Carthagian general in the Punic Wars in 247 and 183 BC.

If you're reading an indexed version of a record where someone had to read the original document and enter the name into a computer, it could be that the name was misread. I have yet to stop encountering new ways to mangle my great-grandfather's first name in computer records. (Aniceto was his name. Arivello, Auceako, Knicet, Amato ... on and on it goes.)

113thanks for your thoughts on this. the information are from the actual records, rather than those indexed online. this is just one more mystery that cannot be untangled until I can get access to church records...